Gaseous heater.



F. W. THURSTON.

GASEOUS HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. a, 1914.

LWKBMW Patented Dec. 5,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

THURSTON. GASEOUS HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.

Patented; Dec. 5, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- reenter.

i; fru- FEED W. THURSTCN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, JBY IIESNE SIGN- IIIIIENTS, TO THURSTON MOTOR FUEL GASIFIER COMP I IPOJRA'IION OF CALIFORNIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

or CALIFORNIA, A con- GASEOIIS HEATER.

Patented Dec. 5, Ifllllfl.

Application filed September 3, 1914. Serial No. 866,030.

To all whom it may concern:

]Be it known that I, FRED W. THtms'roN, a citizen of the United States, residing atSan Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Gaseous Heat- A further object is in the gasifler im- I proved means for breaking up the fuel particles in such a manner as to aid in the production of a substantially perfect burning mixture.

Astill further object of the invention is the provision in the gasifier of a heating sheet-having a surface against which the mixture is deflected and in engagement with which it is maintained during a portion of its travel through the gasifier, the breaking means being associated in such novel relation with respect to the heating surface as.

to act upon the conveyed mixture a plurality of times. I

Further objects and features of the invention will be more fllllydescribed in connection with the accompanying drawings and will be more particularly pointed in and by the appended claims.

In the drawings :Figure lis a vertical sectional view of acne form of my invention All in this application. A valve 2 controls fuel supply through a incorporating a earbureter and gasifler in one unitary structure. Fig. 2 1s a sectional view online 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a ,view in side elevation of my improved vaporbreaking and deflecting device. Fig.4 is a bottom plan view looking in the direction of' arrow l of Fig. 3.

like characters of reference designate" similar parts throughout diflerent figures of the drawings.

The device of my invention is illustrated in connection with an improved form of carburetor, indicated as; a whole at 1, the

carbureter being very generally referred to pipe 3 to atank I, the valve being controlled by a float '5 in theusual manner; A port 6 delivers liquid fuel to a'chamber 7 from which itpasses through a valve 8 to mix with air supplied through pipe 9 and delivered to pipe 10. Inpipe 10 which. is the intake conduit of the engine, is a throttle valve 11 which controls passage of the mixture to that portion of the apparatus which more particularly constitutes my invention and which I will now describe in detail:

Pipe 10 is flanged at 12 and a threaded pipe 13, also flanged as at 14, is fixed on the flange 12 by means such as bolts 15. The pipe l 3'is exteriorly threaded and there is turned'upon said pipe an interiorly threaded base ring 16, having a threaded hub 17.

The base ring 16 forms a'support' on whichmy heater is shown to be mounted and the bore of the base ring 16 is flared, as at 18, for a purpose which will presently appear. 0n the base ring 16 is secured a hollow structure which is shown formed integral and which comprises an outer casing 19 and an inner heating shell 20. The shell and easing are spaced apart for passage therebetween of exhaust gases from'the engine or other heating medium, pipes 21 and 22 being shown connected with the casing 19 for ingress and egress of exhaust gases or other heating agent through casing 19. It will be readily seen by reference to Fig. 2 that the incoming gases passing through either pipe will play most eflectively upon the heating shell 20 during passage through casing 19 and outwardly through the remaining pipe. Shell 20 therefore functions as a heating conduit through which the mixture passes toward the engine and in which the mixture is completely rendered into a dry and substantially perfect gas. The shell 20 and casing 19 terminate in a threaded annular nipple 23 which has threaded connection with a coupling 24: connected to the engine cylinder 25.

The lower ends of the shell and casing terminate in a bottom wall 26 to form a closed interior chamber 27. I preferably-recess the ottom wall 26, as shown at 28, to provide an annular space betweenthe same and the base ring 16 for anchorage of my improved deflector means. I have shown the structure secured to the base ring 16 by means such as screws 29.

My improved deflector comprises a supporting disk 30 having its outer margins the base ring 16. The deflector disk 30,

inwardly of its outer margin, is provided with segmental openings 31 through which the mixture passes from pipe 13 into the shell 20.- In order to force all of the mixture through said passages, the central pordeflector by reason of its position withre spect to the direction of flow. There is in corporated, however, in my improved deflector structure, a longitudinal deflector which'is in the form of a truncated obconic extension 33-which is shown formed integral with the-transverse deflector and which .extends longitudinally of the heating shell 20 and substantially longitudinally with respect to the direction of flow of the mixture.

The foregoing deflector structure first deflects the mixture outwardly against the interior ofthe shell 20 and the longitudinaldeflector 33 tends to maintain the mixture against said shell during a portion of the travel of the mixture longitudinally therein.

Now it will be understood that the explosive mixture, especially when it is formed from 'a-heavy oil of the several kinds of which gasolene may be numbered, consists of a heavy vapor which is frequently heavily ladened with'oil particles, and immediately upon its contact with. the highly heated interior of the memberor shell'20, it will be transformed in large part into a dry gas having the highest efliciency as an explosive fuel.

It is alsoan object of the invention to break up thisgas and any ungasified drops or globules aii'd sub-divide the same before it gets into the engine, and. I consider it an especially important feature of the invention to incorporate the homogenizing means in the gasifier, or in other words, to so dispose said breaking means that it will be operative while the mixture is being subjected to the heat in the gasifier. ingly, I dispose a cap of any suitable foraminous material, as indicated at 34, within theshell 20, preferably in a manner so that it will form a continuation of the longitudinal deflector 33. The screen cap 34 is in the form of a truncated obconic body and is proportioned so that its upper and large end 35 will lie very close to the heating surface of the shell 20 thereby preventing the gaseous fuel, from passing upwardly between the breaking means and said heating Accordsurface and forcing the fuel to pass into the cap 34 below the line where the latter and the shell 20 converge. Not only does the gaseous fuel pass into the cap 34, but outwardly and upwardly through the foraminous top 36 thereof whence it discharges through coupling 24 on its way to the engine 25. Thus it will be seen that the gaseous fuel is twice forced through foraminous walls of the cap 34 and effectively sub-divided as regards not only the gas itself but any liquid particles which may be carried thereby. Of course it will be. understo,0d that the temperature in the interior of shell 20 will reach a comparatively high point and that I not only will the gas be subjected to the heated interior shell 20 but also to the heated breaking screen or cap 34.

, The invention is especially designed for the use of low grades of hydrocarbons and .I provide means interposed between the mixture supplying means and the engine so that no matter how imperfectly the cheap and low grade liquid fuel is vaporized by whatever carbureting or mixture supply 5 flows through, the openings 31, to glance against or strikethe interior of shell 20 at an angle thereto, or substantially tangentially. Now the fuel is thence drawn upwardly through outlet 24 and it will be seen that the open mesh breaker 34 is at an angle to the direction of flow and has its mesh openings or the axes thereof at 'an angle with respect to the direction of flow of the fuel leaving or passing from glancing contact with shell 20 toward outlet 24. Any fuel particles or beads of liquid fuel that have not been broken upby contact with 32 and 20, will engage breaker 34 at such an angle with respect to the mesh openings that the fuel particles will be broken up by con- :1

tact with, and the heat of breaker 34, so as to be completely gasified before passing through said breaker 34. Thus complete gasification will be effected prior to admission to the engine. Now if the open mesh breaker 34 were in such a position that the axes of the mesh openings were coincident with the direction of flow of the fuel therethrough, this final breaking up, to the utmost efficiency, could not occur, because fuel particlesof a minute character would pass right through the mesh openings.

I further consider it a very material advantage to have the breaker 34 within the shell 20 so as to be maintained at a temperature substantially equal to the temperature of shell 20. This results in the breaker 3i. functioning both asa breaker and a. heater.

'- 5 It will be understood that the valve 11,

' will seldom be fully opened and therefore the fuel passing through openings 31 Will be in the form of a relatively attenuated annular spray which will pass between the shell and the breaker 34, for consecutive a chamber through which the fuel passes to the engine, a heating surface therein, longitudinally disposed imperforate. deflecting means extending obliquely toward the said heating surface in the direction of flow of the fuel current to positively maintain the fuel in proximity to the heated surface for a substantial distance and a foraminous surface extending obliquely from the outer portion of said imperforate deflecting means into proximity to the heating surface.

2. In a fuel heater for explosive engines,

a chamber through which the fuel passes to the engine, a heating surface therein, a deflecting plate disposed substantially transversely to the irection of flowof the'fuel through the chamber, longitudinally disposed imperforate deflecting means extending obliquely from adjacent the outer por-. tion of the deflecting plate toward the said heating surface in the direction of flow of the fuel current to positively maintain the fuel in proximity to the heating surface and a foraminous surface extending obliquely from the outer portion of said imperforate deflecting means into proximity to the heating surface.

3. In a fuel heater for explosive engines, a substantially cylindrical chamber through which the fuel passes to the engine, means to heat the walls of such chamber, a frustoconical imperforate plate disposed longitudinally of the chamber and extending ob-. liquely outwardly in the direction of flow of the fuel current and a foraminous continuation of such deflecting plate extending therefrom to close proximity to the heated walls of the cylindrical chamber.

- 4. In a fuel heater for explosive engines, a substantially cylindrical chamber through 1. In a fuel'heater for explosive engines,

Which the fuel passes to the engine, means to heat the walls of such chamber, an imperforate deflecting plate disposed substantially transversely-to the direction of flow of the fuel through the chamber, a frust-oconical imperforate deflecting plate disposed longitudinally of the chamber and extending obliquely outwardly in the direction of an angle to the direction of'flow of the gaseous fuel for initial engagement by the latter to heat said fuel and partially gasify and break up the beads or particles carried thereby, means for directly applying heat to said primary surface, and a fine screen disposed in such close relation to said primary heating surface as to be heated to substantially the temperature of the latter and arranged at such an angle to the direction of flow of fuel leaving said primary-heating surface that fuel particles or beads will ,strike against said screen and be broken up before passing through said screen, and means for delivering a partially gasified or carbureted fuel to said heater, substantially as described.

6. In a fuel heater for explosive engines, a primary heating surface, means directly applying heat to said surface, a deflector for abruptly arresting the fuel under suction flow to break up the liquid particles and deflect the fuel at an angle against said primary heating surface to heat and further break up and gasify the fuel, said primary heating surface being disposed beyond said deflector with respect to the flow of incoming fuel, and a screen disposed beyond said deflector with respect to the incoming fuel and in such close proximity to said prnnary heating surface as to be maintained at substantially the; same temperature as the latter, said screen surface being disposed with respect to the direction of flow of the fuel leaving said primary heating surface so that the axes of the mesh openings will be angular to the direction of flow of said fuel whereby liquid particles carried by the fuel will strike against said screen and will be broken up by heat of impact prior to the passage through said screen, and means for supplying a partially carbureted fuel to said heater, substantially as described.-

7. As a means for heating or gasifying fuel for explosive engines, a heater comprising heating and breaking surface portions disposed in con-verging relation with respect longitudinally along to each other with the point of greatest convergence remote from the incoming fuel passing therebetween and said portions presenting surfaces for consecutive engagement of the fuel thereagainst, such surface portion last engaged by the fuel being a fine mesh screen, means for directly applying heat'to the other heating surface, and means for delivering a partially gasified fuel to said heater, substantially as described.

8. As-a means for heating and breaking suction drawn previously carbureted gaseous fuel, a heater having primary and secondary heated breaking and gasifying surfaces extending alongside each other and the path of fuel for movement of the fuel between said surfaces and said secondary surface being a fine mesh screen, means for directly applying heat to the primary surface to heat the latter and said screen, said heater having an outlet disposed in such lateral relation with respect to said screen that the fuel will glance against and frictionally engage said screen to break up the fuel particles by impact with-and heat of said screen to gasify the fuel before the latter passes through said screen, said heater having means for ini- 'up suction drawn gaseous fuel, a

extending alongside each other and longitudinally of the path of the fuel for passage of incoming fuelbetween said surfaces in an annular body, the innermost surface being a fine mesh screen, said heater having an outlet disposed suliiciently radially inward from said screen so that the fuel will glance against and frictionally engage said screen along the exterior surface of the latter to break up the fuel particles by impact with and by heat of said screen to gasify the fuel before and while the fuel is being drawn through said screen, said heater having means for initially deflecting the fuel in a substantially annular body in glancing engagement against the interior of said outer surface prior to engagement of the fuel with said screen, means directly applying heat to said primary surface, and means for delivering a partially gasified or carbureted fuel to said heater, substantially as described.

10. In a device of the character described, a tubular primary heating device provided near .one end with relatively stationary permanently open angularly arranged inlet means for causing the gaseous fuel to diverge upon entering the tubular primary heating device and directly contact with the inner wall thereof, means for heating the primary heating device, and a secondary tubular heating device arranged within the primary tubular heating device and formed of a fine screen, said secondary tubular heating device being tapered and increasing in diameter away from the angularly arran ed inlet means, as and for the purpose speci ed.

I FRED W. THURSTON.

Witnesses:

H. E. SMITH, ,(JARL H. CRAWFORD. 

